Covering for steam or hot-water pipes



(No Model.)

0. C. GILMAN.

I COVERING FOR STEAM AND HOT WATER PIPES. No. 446,860. Patented Feb. 24,1891.

, UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

CHARLES CARROLL GILMAN, OF ELDORA, IOIVA.

COVERING FOR STEAM OR HOT-WATER PIPES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,860, dated February24, 1891.

Application filed June 10, 1889. Serial No. 313,667. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES CARROLL GIL- MAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Eldora, Iowa, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Coverings for Steam or Hot-Tater Pipes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to the covering of steam and hot-water metal pipeswith a sheathing which is indestructible, incombustible, and anon-conductor of heat and cold. Coverings for such pipes have usuallybeen made of paper tubing, sometimes intermixed with asbestus cloth; butsince of late years it has become the practice to introduce super--heated steam and water for power and cooking purposes as well as forheating to a degree as high as, say, 300 Fahrenheit such coverings havebecome unsafe by reason of charring and spontaneous combustion of thesame.

In factorybuildings non-conducting coverings of common porousearthenwares have been used; but these, in order to possess therequisite strength, must be bulky, heavy, and necessarily bunglingin adjustmentinsu perable objections for pipe-coverings in residences,particularly when pipes are exposed to view, as must frequently be thecase.

My invention herein described is an improvement on the lastmentionedconstruction, whereby the objections referred to are overcome, whilenone of the advantages are sacrificed.

As is well known, porous terracotta or terra-cotta lumber is produced bymixing sawdust or its equivalent with clay, the sawdust being burned toashes in the firing process, thus leaving the burned product porous, thedegree of porosity depending on the relative amount of sawdust to clayused in the mixture. I add to the usual mixture of sawdust, clay, andwater a quantity of asbestus-wool or fibers, the latter remainingunharmed in the subsequent firing process, and in this manner I supply afiber to the burned-earthenware product, whereby a high degree oftensile strength is permanently imparted to the same. I take theasbestine wool or fiber, preferably long fiber, and sprinkle the samefrom time to time upon the surface of the mixture of clay, sawdust, andwater as the same is turned by the workman with shovels or otherwiseupon the floor preparatory to going to press. I use in this manner fromtwenty pounds upward of the asbestine wool to about one ton of theburned composition. After the asbestine wool is properly and insufficient quantities incorporated into the plastic composition byturning on the floor, as explained, the mixture is then run through apress of the type described as expressive. The composition is forcedthrough the dies of the press, dried, and fired in the kilns. Anexamination of the burned product will show the asbestine fibers tightlydrawn for the most part like short strings and lying parallel with thegrain of the pressed composition, this a1 rangement of the fibers andthe grain of the ware being caused by the friction which the plasticcomposition encounters in its enforced passage through the dies of thepress. The asbestine fibers serve to strengthen the burned product insomewhat the same manner that hair does when mixed with lime-mortar. Inthis manner I produce a small, light, and strong covering for steam andhot-water pipes, and which is a non-conductor of heat and cold,affording ample protect-ion against the radiation of heat from theinclosed conveyingpipes.

I apply the coverings to the said pipes in the following manner: Thematerial is made in the form of tubes, and these are slit into equalhalves with a saw after tiring and adj usted to the pipes in sectionstwo or three feet long and fastened by applying a mortar ofplaster-of-paris to the edges and ends. Before applying the mortar theporous wares should be dampened with water to prevent undue absorptionof water from the mortar. If desired, these coverings may be, subsequentto erection,ornamented by painting the same. They may also be closelyattached to the inclosed pipes by pouring in a liquid cement ofplaster-of-paris and quicklime or its equivalent between the pipes andthe coverings.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Arepresents the steam or hot-water metal pipe, and B the covering hereindescribed, the drawings indicatingits form and mode of application.

I am aware that it. has been proposed to mix asbestus with clay and hairand to apply the same in a plastic state without firing to a pipe. I amalso aware that it has been proposed to mix asbestus fiber with calcinedmagnesia and to apply molded sections of this to a pipe. I am also awareof United States Patent No. 213,553, dated March 25, 1879, granted toField & Howard, and all of said coverings I hereby disclaim, for theydiffer widely from my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 15

